National Assembly deputies have discussed the Law against Human
Trafficking and policies related to the capital city of Ha Noi.

The new My Dinh residential area in Tu Liem District, Ha Noi. NA deputies on Tuesday discussed policies to foster the capital city’s development. (Photo: VNS)

In her report, Le Thu Ba, Chairwoman of the
Legal Committee yesterday presented some changes in the latest version based on
the results of discussions at the previous National Assembly meeting in late
November 2010.

Ba said significant changes in the new
version related to acts involving human trafficking and related acts, victims’
rights and their safety and some other provisions.

According to Minister of Justice, Ha Hung
Cuong, the focus of the law is on human trafficking prevention.

“Yet the law will have provisions on
criminal or administrative and disciplinary measures as the nature of the law is
very specific. The ultimate objective of the law is to reduce human trafficking
activities and then gradually eliminate them,” said Cuong.

He said the spirit of the law would not be
only confined to the criminal code.

Under the draft law, social protection
centres would be established in provinces/cities affiliated to the central
government. Victim support centres could be established by individuals or
organisations on the basis of self-financing. These centres would only give
shelters to victims that do not want to return to their home and they want to
stay there.

Nguyen Dang Trung, from HCM City, supported
the idea of giving psychological and legal support to victims and financial
support or credit if they had difficulties in finding jobs or pursuing a new
career.

Earlier on Tuesday, National Assembly
deputies discussed the unique policies related to the capital city of Ha Noi.

Through the discussion, the participants
agreed on the necessity to pass a law on the capital city in order to develop a
firm legal foundation to build, manage and develop Ha Noi into a beautiful and
civilised capital city of the nation.

Nguyen Ngoc Dao, a deputy from Ha Noi
agreed with the necessity to develop specific policies related to the capital,
yet he wondered whether the unique policies would be contrary to the existing
laws.

Dao in particular questioned Article 23 of
the draft bill, which would allow Ha Noi authorities to impose higher fines for
administrative violations in the fields of culture, land, environment,
construction and transport. “This is the point I think we must have further
discussion about,” he said.

During their discussion, the deputies asked
the drafting committee to include new provisions on security and law and order
to enable Ha Noi to perform its functional duties as the capital city.

Tran Du Lich, from HCM City, and Dang Nhu
Loi, from the southernmost province of Ca Mau, agreed with most the content
covered in the draft. Yet they were not happy with arguments supporting the
necessity to provide special treatment for Ha Noi.

“The arguments they came up were very weak.

For example the seven objectives of
building and developing the capital, including the building of Ha Noi into a
beautiful, civilised, modern and sustainable development city. These objectives
were very general. They could be applied to other cities in Viet Nam.

If we want to give special treatment to Ha
Noi, we must pinpoint to the city’s unique characteristics in terms of politics
and its legal status,” said Lich.

VietNamNet/Viet
Nam News